Hey Google! Can I build this product right now?

Caden using his Google Home Mini - He's asking the same question, but in his case, it's to build up his youTube channel - "Caden's World"

Google may not be plugged into your operations....yet.

BUT if it were, it would likely answer you with results generated from the BOM Xploder.

The BOM Exploder is a VISUAL extension tool that quickly lets you know on whether you have all the materials to complete a job (work order) - right here, right now.

The tool looks at ALL of your jobs (works orders) in VISUAL, drills down through all levels deep, looks to future supply and demand of parts - and tells you if you have any shortages anywhere throughout the multi-level BOM - even if parts of that BOM have their own engineering master that hasn't been released yet

One of the great things about the BOM Xploder is that it allows you to work at the Job Level rather than at the Part Level like the Material Planning Window.

I know how arduous it can be going down the rabbit hole in the Material Planning Window chasing parts that may cause you grief in production.

The BOM Xploder gives you an overview of all your jobs to see what can be built or not based on what's available or expected to be available. The Jobs are color-coded to providing you more information on whether you can build or not:

BLACK → You can build right now

RED→ Part Shortages - no supply purchase orders and no supply work orders

BLUE→ Part Shortages - supply purchase order and supply work orders in place

ORANGE→ You can build now - BUT you would be stealing from other jobs

Static screenshot does not do this justice Contact me for a demo! -

You can drill down to investigate further as well as jump directly into the Material Planning Window, Manufacturing Window and Work Order Traveller

A "bonus" feature allows you to view all the parts that are causing jobs to be late. This list can be considered your Hot or Expedite List as it prioritizes the parts based on the number of jobs they are causing to be late.

It's definitely a tool you should consider if you have deep BOMs and spending a significant amount of time in the Material Planning Window to investigation possible part shortages.

Ping me if you are interested in hearing more about BOM Xploder!

Now full disclosure :-)

BOM Xploder is product developed by the great team at Synergy Resources who I work for. So you may consider this post as being biased - but I do think it's a great VISUAL extension and it's currently being used in the community with great success.

If you have or know of a great product or solution for VISUAL - I'm interested in speaking with you and showcasing it